PART I: THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
1. The Cult and Movement
2. Declining Buddhism, Resurging Hinduism
3. The Problems of Origin and Nature
4. The Chronology and Geography
5. Social and Political Background
6. ‘Kali’: A Curse or Blessing?
7. The Warring Princes and Foreign Conquerors
8. The Triumvirate and Duumvirate
9. Heartland Moves South
PART II: A THOUSAND-YEAR STORY
10. Bhagavata Purana
11. The First Blossoms from the Deep South
12. Hindu Reformation
13. Nayanars
14. The Alvars
15. Vridhim Karnatake Gata
16. Bhakta Mira
17. Surdas: The Blind Singer
18. Ramananda and the Ramanandis
19. Varkaries, Vithoba and Pandharpur
20. Chokhamela: The Untouchable Saint
21. Tulsidas and Rama Bhakti
22. Guru Nanak and the Sikhs
23. Sufism and Bhakti
24. Bhakti and Fanaticism in Kashmir
25. Assam and Sankara Deva’s Vaishnavite Reforms
26. Chaitanya and Bengal Vaishnavism
27. Many Streams of Bhakti in Andhra
28. Dadupanthis and Panchavani
29. Kerala: A Latecomer
30. Conclusion
Biography
P. Govinda Pillai (b.1926) graduated from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai. He became a full time political, social and cultural activist after his student life and was elected four times to the Kerala State Legislature, first as a representative of the Communist Party of India and later, the Communist Party of India (M). He was the Chief Editor of Desabhimani, the CPI(M)’s mouthpiece in Malayalam, for more than two decades. He has headed many institutions including the Kerala State Film Corporation, Centre for Imaging Technology, Kerala State Press Akademi etc. He is the author of about 35 books based on a range of subjects including Marxist asesthetics, literarture and culture, social movements and science.
